Today, the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Tamila Tasheva met with the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Jonas Survila, and the Member of Parliament of Lithuania, Deputy Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee Giedrius Surplys.

First of all, Tamila Tasheva expressed her gratitude to Lithuania for its assistance to Ukraine in numerous areas. The Permanent Representative invited her colleagues to join the Mentoring Program, an initiative launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 2021 to publicly support Crimean political prisoners, including journalists, bloggers, and activists. More than a dozen social and political leaders have already joined the program, including Francis Fukuyama and William Taylor. Recently, at the invitation of the Office of the Crimea Platform, the program was joined by the Vice-President of the Bundestag Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova.

Tamila Tasheva also added that this year that two major international events are to take place this year within the framework of the Crimea Platform: the governmental and parliamentary summits of the Crimea Platform.

In particular, the Permanent Representative mentioned that this year Ukraine commemorates the 80^th anniversary of the forced deportation of the Crimean Tatar people. This crime of the Soviet regime was recognized as genocide, in particular by Lithuania, in 2019. Tamila Tasheva encouraged her Lithuanian colleagues to make a statement at the state level regarding the heinous crime committed by the Soviet regime. It is crucial to bring attention to Russia’s genocidal actions today and to emphasize why Ukraine cannot compromise on Crimea. Tamila believes that raising awareness of this issue will help prevent further tragedies.

The Permanent Representative also mentioned a recent meeting in Kyiv with the Karaite community, which expressed gratitude to Lithuania for the support provided to preserve the Karaite identity.